258: Chapter 258 The Dealer's Stance, Pre-positioning of Resources

At the hour of Chen the next day—inside the Wei Family Chamber of Commerce Hall in the East District of the inner city of Zhenhai Fortress.

The front of the chambers did not face the main street. It was hidden at the end of the third cross alley in the East District—a three-story stone building constructed from solid blocks of deep-sea bluestone. No signboard hung on the building's facade—only a palm-sized dark gold sword pattern embedded in the lintel. The patina on this sword pattern was thinner than the one at the Private Soldiers' station—the chambers were the Wei Family's face in the fortress, and the patina was regularly polished.

When Lu Changyuan arrived, Shadow One and Shadow Two followed three paces behind him. The two were still wearing those dark cotton robes today—the sword patterns on their armor plates were covered, and short swords hung at their waists. Special Commissioner Wei Yuan walked at the very back of the group—the wrist of the dark gray leather glove on his left hand was tucked into the cuff of his plain cloth robe. Chu Yunfei was not there—he had headed to the Pier District before the hour of Chen. Before leaving the stone building last night, he had left a message: "That runner from the Li Family—he drinks his first bowl of spirit tea at the tea stall by the Pier every day at the third quarter of the hour of Mao. I'm going to block him."

The door to the second-floor conference room was already open.

Elder Wei Changfeng stood at the door, wearing the formal robes of a Wei Family Elder today. A deep gray base color—the cuffs and collar were each pressed with an extremely narrow dark gold border—the stitching of the border was a simplified variant of the Wei Family's dark gold sword pattern, not an ordinary straight line. He had worn his formal robes out—in the fortress's chamber of commerce district, the formal robes of a Wei Family Elder were themselves an opening statement: what they were discussing today, the Wei Family was serious about.

In the center of the conference room was a deep-sea ironwood table nearly two zhang long. The tabletop was sliced from a single log—the annual rings stretched from one end of the table to the other. People were already seated around it.

Steward Zhong of the Tiangong Pavilion sat in the first seat on the left. When he saw Lu Changyuan walk in, his gaze lingered on Lu Changyuan's face for less than half a breath, then swept over the two female cultivators in dark cotton robes behind him—lingering on the short swords at their whists for nearly a full breath. He had seen Lu Changyuan on Blue Moon Island—at that time, standing behind Lu Changyuan were Leng Feng and a Core Formation Puppet. Now, they were replaced by two Late Foundation Establishment Stage joint-attack specialists—the curve at the end of their scabbards tapered more sharply than the standard design.

Steward Zhong's lips twitched, swallowing the words that had risen to his mouth.

Seated next to him were the shopkeepers of three chambers of commerce. In front of each of the three lay an untouched cup of spirit tea—the spiritual mist in the teacups had already thinned, indicating they had been waiting for at least the time it takes an incense stick to burn. Lu Changyuan had never seen the faces of the three shopkeepers—but Elder Wei Changfeng had shown him the list last night: Manager Sun of the Juling Pavilion—a shop specializing in recovery-type Medicinal Pills, who had stockpiled enough Qi-Returning Pills and Bone-Knitting Salve in the fortress for at least three hundred-man teams to fight a tough battle. Shopkeeper Qian of the Wanbao Tower—restriction-breaking Talismans and mine-detecting Formation Plates were his main business, and the goods sitting in his warehouse had been burning Spirit Stones since half a year ago. Steward Li of the Tianzhen Pavilion—who dealt in Formation Plates and held a batch of Abyss-Exploring Formation Plates capable of maintaining Spiritual Pressure in the Deep Water Zone.

At the end of the table sat a single person, alone.

He wore a standard gray-blue official robe of the Logistics Department—the brocade robes common among chamber of commerce shopkeepers were nowhere to be found on him. His cuffs were stained with a few faint ink marks—the kind of ink used for stamping warehouse manifests. He did not drink tea—his hands were folded on the tabletop, his knuckles thick—hands accustomed to moving cargo year-round. He was the warehouse manager of the Li Family Firm—Warehouse Manager Li Hai. The Li Family managed the East District 3 warehouses under the Zhenhai Fortress Logistics Department—stockpiling more goods than any other party present. He was also the most stubborn—the only one who had not replied when Elder Wei Changfeng sent out the transmissions last night.

But he had come today.

Lu Changyuan sat in the seat next to the head of the table—the main seat was empty, waiting for Elder Wei Changfeng. Shadow One and Shadow Two stood behind him—their positions identical to where they had stood yesterday by the training field of the Private Soldiers' station: hands resting on the hilts of their short swords, spaced less than three feet apart.

Elder Wei Changfeng walked to the main seat but did not sit. He pressed his hands onto the ironwood tabletop—the dark gold border on the cuffs of his formal robes flashed under the cold light stones in the conference room.

"Everyone—Wei's transmission made it very clear. The Sealed Ruins are about to open." His voice was less than half a tone higher than his usual speech on the Piers—but the lingering resonance of his Late Golden Core Stage Spiritual Pressure in the tail of each word was deliberately released. In the enclosed space of the chambers, this resonance rippled along the walls, circled back, and caused the surface of the spirit tea in the cups on the table to vibrate with extremely fine ripples. "Wei has pulled the spiritual energy fluctuation records of the Military Monitoring Division for the past three months—the frequency curves of all seventeen fixed array points in the direction of the Dragon Burial Trench are accelerating upward. At the current rate of decay, we have a few days at most."

Manager Sun of the Juling Pavilion picked up his teacup, didn't drink, and set it down again. "Elder Wei, we believe the Monitoring Department's data. But an acceleration in spiritual energy fluctuations doesn't mean the ruins will open. That gate deep within the Dragon Burial Trench has existed for at least several thousand years—why should we believe it will definitely break this time?"

"Because someone has a fragment in their hands—a fragment that broke off from that very gate."

Elder Wei Changfeng turned his head and nodded toward Lu Changyuan.

Lu Changyuan fished the black crystal from an inner pocket in his sleeve and placed it on the ironwood tabletop. The crystal did not reflect light under the cold light stones—but the dark gold, radiating fine lines on its underside lit up upon contacting the weak spiritual energy field of the table's Spirit Stone inlay. It was extremely faint—like the fleeting cold light of deep-sea fish scales startled in a lightless zone.

Then, he pushed the Receiving Formation plate handed over by Special Commissioner Wei Yuan onto the table—when the Formation Plate came within less than half an inch of the crystal, its humming pitch jumped up a notch. Faint green light from the remnants of spiritual energy pulses lit up line by line along the induction lines on the edge of the Formation Plate, and frequency values popped up row by row. With each row that appeared, the value differed by less than half a division from the corresponding row on the stack of transcribed records from the Military Monitoring Division next to it.

The conference room fell silent for a few breaths.

Steward Zhong of the Tiangong Pavilion was the first to speak. He pushed his teacup aside, the bottom of the cup scraping against the ironwood table with an extremely faint friction sound. "Elder Wei, I said so in my transmission last night. I have seen this Lord Lu with my own eyes on Blue Moon Island. The Core Formation Puppet behind him is real, the Cold Iron vein under his control is real, and his contribution point system squeezing out nearly eight hundred Jade Talismans in three days is also real." He tapped his finger on the table next to the black crystal. "I believe what he says. I will test this crystal."

Manager Sun of the Juling Pavilion and Shopkeeper Qian of the Wanbao Tower exchanged a glance. The two old foxes, who had spent decades scraping by in the fortress's chamber of commerce district, simultaneously reached for the stack of transcribed Monitoring Department records. Manager Sun flipped to the last page, his finger resting on the frequency value from the hour of Zi last night. Shopkeeper Qian pulled over the current frequency reading of the Receiving Formation plate, placing the two numbers side by side. They differed by less than half a division.

"The frequencies match—this proves the fragment indeed broke off from the core of the Seal." Shopkeeper Qian pushed the transcription paper back. "But what about the method to enter and exit the ruins? Once the gate opens, how do we get in? And once inside, how do we get out? We can't just slap the fragment onto the gate."

Lu Changyuan fished a second item from his sleeve—Old Man Mo's Deduction Paper, which mapped out the acceleration of the Seal's decay. The Deduction Paper was spread out on the table—its corners frayed from Old Man Mo's fingers, the charcoal lines revised dozens of times, with some spots rubbed raw and patched up again. Marked on the paper were specific acceleration values, day-by-day variation curves of spiritual energy frequencies, and estimated thicknesses of the Seal's outer layer at different points in time—not just the vague phrase "about to decay."

"The method to enter and exit is currently being deduced. The deduction will be completed within a few days." He placed his finger on the countdown marker at the very bottom of the Deduction Paper. "When the deduction is complete, the Seal will be just thin enough to enter. Any earlier, and the Seal will be too thick to pass; any later, and the gate will be occupied by the Haiyuan Clan. The window of opportunity is less than a day."

"In other words, you have the token, the data, and the countdown—but the formation path to enter and exit hasn't been deduced yet." Warehouse Manager Li Hai spoke from the end of the table. His voice was not loud, but his hands remained folded on the tabletop as he spoke, without reaching out to touch any of the papers. "Lord Lu, you want us to sell the stock sitting in our warehouses to the Wei Family at current market prices, betting that the demand for supplies will double once the ruins open. But what if the formation path to enter and exit can't be deduced? What if we miss the window? What if the Haiyuan Clan blocks the gate first? What is the difference between the goods sitting in the Wei Family's warehouse and sitting in our own?"

"The difference is that if your goods sit in your own warehouses, you burn Spirit Stones on warehouse rent and deadstock interest every day. If you sell them to the Wei Family, the rent and interest are transferred to the Wei Family's account." Lu Changyuan looked into Warehouse Manager Li Hai's eyes. "Whether the ruins open or not, your goods are already sold. Market price, cash in hand. No loss."

Warehouse Manager Li Hai tapped his finger on the table—his thick-knuckled finger striking the ironwood with an extremely muffled thud.

"But if the ruins do open, we won't get a single penny of the price difference the Wei Family pockets."

"You will." Elder Wei Changfeng fished a stack of prepared Spirit Contract Papers from his sleeve—the dense clauses on the paper written in cinnabar ink spanned at least dozens of lines. He spread the Spirit Contract Papers across the table—one copy for each person. "The total amount of Spirit Stones for each Family's goods will be converted into a pre-positioned supply share proportionally. Once the ruins open, profits will be distributed according to these shares. The goods are not being sold to the Wei Family—they are being consigned to the Wei Family to sell on your behalf during the premium window after the ruins open. Whatever is earned will be split proportionally."

The conference room fell silent once more.

Steward Li of the Tianzhen Pavilion pulled a Spirit Contract Paper over and read it from beginning to end. He did not read quickly—line by line, sentence by sentence—and by the third reading, his finger lingered on the profit distribution ratio line for nearly five breaths. "Consignment. Not a buyout. In other words, the Wei Family shoulders the risk, and we supply the stock. If the ruins do not open, the Wei Family guarantees the bottom line at market price. If they do open, everyone splits the profits proportionally."

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"Correct." Elder Wei Changfeng lifted his hand from the Spirit Contract Paper. "But there is one condition. Your goods must be moved into the Wei Family's designated warehouses in the Inner Harbor's East District 3 within today. Do not store them centrally—store them dispersedly. Place a batch near every Pier—the target must not be too large."

"Why?"

"Because once the ruins open, those people from the Royal Capital will swarm over like sharks smelling blood," Lu Changyuan took over. "By then, every warehouse in the fortress will be watched. Storing them centrally is equivalent to writing the supply list on your faces. Storing them dispersedly means the goods at each Pier won't be enough to attract attention. By the time they realize it, your goods will have already entered the ruins with me."

Warehouse Manager Li Hai's fingers paused on the tabletop. He pulled the Spirit Contract Paper over and read it for nearly half an incense stick's time. Then, he fished out a Spirit Stone personal Seal from his sleeve and stamped it at the end of the Spirit Contract Paper.

When the Spirit Stone personal Seal pressed against the paper, the micro-sensing spiritual power within the Seal's pattern spread less than three inches along the lines of the cinnabar clauses. The Spirit Contract took effect.

Manager Sun of the Juling Pavilion looked at Warehouse Manager Li Hai, then at Shopkeeper Qian, and then also fished out his personal Seal from his sleeve. Shopkeeper Qian of the Wanbao Pavilion followed suit. When Steward Li of the Tianzhen Pavilion pressed his personal Seal onto the paper, his hand was as steady as if he were carving spiritual power lines onto a Formation Plate. Steward Zhong did not use a Seal—the Tiangong Pavilion's Spirit Contracts used the auction house's unified Seal. He took out a sound-transmission Formation Plate and scanned it across the Spirit Contract Paper; a dark golden confirmation spiritual light flashed along the sensing lines on the edge of the Formation Plate.

Six Spirit Contracts, six personal Seals. In the conference room, there remained only the faint, rustling sound of paper edges rubbing against each other as the Spirit Contracts were folded one by one.

Elder Wei Changfeng tucked the six Spirit Contracts into his sleeve. The dark golden trim on the cuffs of his formal robes flashed an arc of light under the cold light stone as he gathered the papers. "Everyone, the signatures you provided today will not be known by a seventh person before the ruins open. Once the ruins open—"

"Once the ruins open, you will discover that today's price was a bargain." Lu Changyuan retrieved the black crystal from the table and tucked it into his sleeve; the icy surface of the crystal left a faint temperature difference on his fingertips. "Because by that time, the only person who can enter the ruins will be me."

He gathered the Receiving Formation plate and the Deduction Papers as well, then stood up.

"One last thing to show you all. It is not data—it is people."

He tilted his chin toward the direction where Shadow One and Shadow Two were standing. The two simultaneously released their sword hilts and walked toward the stone steps leading to the backyard of the conference room. Their footsteps were perfectly synchronized—the time difference between their left feet landing was less than half a breath.

The Chamber of Commerce's backyard was not large—less than five zhang in circumference. The ground was paved with the same dark gray stone slabs as the Private Soldiers' barracks—the slabs had no scratches and were clean. A cold light stone lamp was embedded in each of the four corners of the courtyard wall—though it was daytime, the lamps were still lit, casting a very thin layer of cyan-white light over the gray stone slabs.

Shadow One and Shadow Two stood at opposite ends of the courtyard. The distance between them was nearly three zhang. Both hands simultaneously pressed onto their sword hilts—their right hands gripped the sharpest curve at the end of the scabbard, and their left thumbs pushed open the buckles—the movement was so fast there was no time to blink.

Two beams of sword light converged simultaneously in the center of the courtyard.

Two beams of sword light converged simultaneously in the center of the courtyard—a cross-slash. Shadow One's sword moved from the upper left to the lower right—the blade carried a faint dark golden spiritual light when her Late Foundation Establishment Stage spiritual power was fully unleashed. Shadow Two's sword moved from the upper right to the lower left—the same spiritual light, same angle, same speed—the directions were perfectly symmetrical. At the point where the two strands of Sword Qi met in mid-air, the spiritual power density soared to the threshold of the Early Stage Core Formation within less than half a breath.

On the courtyard wall—a sword mark. Nearly two inches deep and nearly three feet long. The cut surface was so smooth it looked as if it had been scorched by high heat—stone dust had congealed into extremely thin, glass-like crystals at the edges of the cut.

After both swords were unleashed—the two simultaneously sheathed their swords. The sound of the buckles clicking shut as the swords returned to their scabbards overlapped into a single syllable. Then they turned simultaneously—facing Lu Changyuan.

"Master—please offer your guidance."

Lu Changyuan walked over from the courtyard wall—stopping less than one zhang away from the two. He did not draw his sword—he pressed his right hand onto the sword hilt at his waist—his fingers paused on the starting end of the anti-slip beast-skin strip on the hilt for less than half a breath—then he released it.

"Tomorrow. For today, let them finish watching."

He turned and looked toward the conference room door. The shopkeepers of the six merchant guilds were crowded at the backyard entrance—the teacup in the hand of Manager Sun of the Juling Pavilion tilted, and a few drops of Spirit Tea spilled from the rim onto the stone floor—he did not notice. Shopkeeper Qian of the Wanbao Pavilion stared fixedly at the sword mark on the courtyard wall—his fingers were unconsciously rubbing his cuffs—rubbing the copper coin pattern of the Wanbao Pavilion embroidered on them. Steward Li of the Tianzhen Pavilion's lips were moving—he was silently calculating the peak spiritual power of that combined Sword Qi—he had calculated it at least three times—each time the resulting number caused the vertical line between his brows to tighten by another half-inch.

Warehouse Manager Li Hai stood at the very back—his hands still crossed over his chest—but his chin had lowered by less than half a degree. Late Foundation Establishment Stage—the combined attack power touched the threshold of the Golden Core. Two female cultivators—twins—the synchronization error of their sword strikes was less than half a breath. Combined-attack secret guards raised since childhood using secret methods—hired thugs could not achieve this level. In the entire Zhenhai Fortress—the number of Families capable of raising such secret guards did not exceed three.

Steward Zhong placed his teacup on the doorframe—and walked up to Lu Changyuan. "Lord Lu—that Core Formation Puppet you had on Blue Moon Island was already terrifying enough. Now you have added these two—" He tilted his chin toward the direction where Shadow One and Shadow Two were standing— "Your people—are making it increasingly difficult for anyone to dare negotiate terms with you."

"Steward Zhong—my people never negotiate terms with friends." Lu Changyuan lowered the hand pressing on his sword hilt— "They only negotiate with enemies."

Steward Zhong smiled—it was not the same way the brokers in the Royal Capital's merchant district smiled. When people from the Tiangong Pavilion smiled, their mouths did not move—their eyes would squint. The crow's feet at the corners of his eyes tightened by less than half a line—the faint ring of spiritual light on the outer edge of his pupils was squeezed narrow by nearly half.

When the meeting dispersed—the hour of Chen had just passed. The six Spirit Contracts were folded neatly in Elder Wei Changfeng's sleeve—underneath each Spirit Contract lay supplies worth at least several thousand Spirit Stones. There were still a few empty berths near Pier 36 in the Inner Harbor's East District 3—the first batch of goods would be moved in this afternoon.

When Lu Changyuan walked out of the Chamber of Commerce with Shadow One, Shadow Two, and Special Commissioner Wei Yuan—someone was squatting at the corner. Chu Yunfei had half a dry cake in his mouth—a faint charcoal smudge was rubbed onto the stone wall he was leaning his back against. He saw Lu Changyuan—and took the dry cake from his mouth—a few crumbs fell from the corner of his mouth onto his lapel.

"The Li Family's warehouse—East District 3, Row 7, Number 18. They have hoarded at least two thousand Spirit-Returning Pills, eight hundred Anti-Restriction Talismans, and three hundred Mine-Detection Formation Plates. They bought them in before the war—the purchase price is nearly double the current market price. They have been holding them for nearly half a year—the warehouse rent burns through at least several hundred Spirit Stones a month." He stuffed the dry cake into his mouth—took a bite—chewed twice— "How was Warehouse Manager Li Hai's complexion today?"

"He signed."

"If he signed, then that's right. Their Family's liquid assets are running dry—if they don't offload them this month, they will have to borrow Spirit Stones to pay the warehouse rent. Warehouse Manager Li Hai's mouth is tough—but his account books are not." Chu Yunfei stuffed the remaining half of the cake into his bosom—stood up—brushed the cake crumbs off his hands— "Additionally—on the way back, I ran into the dispatcher of the Wei Family's Inner Harbor. He said Elder Wei Changfeng has already ordered the clearing of those empty stone warehouses near Piers 36 to 42 in East District 3. They can receive goods this afternoon."

Lu Changyuan glanced at Chu Yunfei. Chu Yunfei had gone to the Pier at the Mao hour in the early morning to intercept people—and before the Chen hour, he had pried the precise inventory and purchase price of the Li Family's warehouse from the mouths of the street runners—on the way back, he had also incidentally confirmed the progress of the Wei Family's warehouse clearance.

"Did you sleep last night?"

"I slept." Chu Yunfei wiped the cake crumbs from the corner of his mouth— "Brokers don't need to sleep much—brokers only need to get their hands on information before others wake up."

"This afternoon—help me watch the Li Family's goods. How many items they move in their first batch, what categories—record it down. If the numbers don't match the list on the Spirit Contract—notify Elder Wei Changfeng immediately."

Chu Yunfei nodded—and turned to walk toward the Pier. After a few steps, he stopped again—turned his head— "Right. That street runner told me—after Warehouse Manager Li Hai received Elder Wei Changfeng's sound transmission last night, he sat in the warehouse for nearly an hour. He didn't do anything—he just sat there. He had the warehouse inventory list laid out in front of him—and on the back, he had written a number in charcoal. It was the lowest offloading price he could accept."

"How much?"

"Nearly ten percent lower than the market price." Chu Yunfei pulled the corners of his mouth upward— "The price you signed today—he made a profit."

Lu Changyuan stood at the entrance of the Chamber of Commerce—watching Chu Yunfei's back disappear around the side alley. The sound of spirit horse hooves and the shouting of merchant guild street runners at the alley entrance were nearly twice as dense as they had been at the Chen hour—the fortress's merchant district had awakened. He reached out and pressed the inner pocket of his sleeve—the black crystal was at the very bottom—and on top of it were six more Spirit Contracts. Six Spirit Contracts—underneath each lay war supplies worth at least several thousand Spirit Stones—dispersed across a dozen inconspicuous Pier warehouses. Once the ruins opened—these supplies would follow him into the deepest part of the Dragon Burial Trench.

He turned and walked toward the stone building. Shadow One and Shadow Two followed three steps behind him—their footsteps perfectly synchronized—the scabbards at their waists swayed minimally with their strides. Tomorrow—sparring. He had already seen the peak spiritual power of their combined Sword Qi—it was less than half a notch away from touching the Golden Core threshold. To block that cross-slash—relying solely on Late Foundation Establishment Stage spiritual power reserves would not be enough.